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Big Fight on the Playground (Parents Protest as Schools Take the Play Out of Recess)
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL ^ | Friday, October 10, 2003 | LAUREN LIPTON

Posted on 10/10/2003 8:05:36 AM PDT by presidio9

Edited on 04/22/2004 11:50:04 PM PDT by Jim Robinson. [history]

Callaghan Elementary's fourth-graders returned to school this fall to an unusual new recess activity. Worried the nine-year-olds have too much independent playground time, the Virginia school decided to have them walk the track.

"The teachers will make it fun," Principal Nancy Moga says. One possibility: Kids may plot how many miles they've logged for math class.


(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Front Page News; Miscellaneous; News/Current Events; Philosophy
KEYWORDS: childhood; childhoodobesity; play; playground; schools
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1 posted on 10/10/2003 8:05:37 AM PDT by presidio9
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To: presidio9
kids play something called Sushi, like dodgeball except they throw balls at a wall

Gee, that sounds...like...fun.

2 posted on 10/10/2003 8:10:59 AM PDT by TheBigB ("If my country calls, I will answer. Unless I'm screening."--Homer J. Simpson)
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To: All
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3 posted on 10/10/2003 8:12:11 AM PDT by Support Free Republic (Your support keeps Free Republic going strong!)
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To: TheBigB
LOL!

Man, oh man, I'm glad I grew up in the '60s and '70s and had FUN at recess.
4 posted on 10/10/2003 8:12:33 AM PDT by Skooz (All Hail the Mighty Kansas City Chiefs)
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To: presidio9
Such a sad world we have made for our kids.. =(
5 posted on 10/10/2003 8:13:55 AM PDT by scab4faa (Can't sleep.. the clowns will eat me... Can't sleep.. the clowns will eat me... Can't sleep..)
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To: Skooz
Just one of many reasons to vote against ANY school levy and start pushing congress to actually CUT "education" spending. And none of these fake baseline cuts, where they only reduce the amount of previously planned growth, but REAL cuts, where fewer dollars are spent currently than were spent in the previous year.
6 posted on 10/10/2003 8:18:32 AM PDT by Orangedog (Soccer-Moms are the biggest threat to your freedoms and the republic !)
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To: presidio9
Bradley and his third-grade friends played "store" on the field, using sticks for merchandise and leaves for money. This year, they play in the bus-turnaround area -- which Bradley says doesn't have enough leaves.

Alan Greenspan Elementary School? Let's play deflation.

7 posted on 10/10/2003 8:19:55 AM PDT by KarlInOhio (Current time travel velocity: 3600 seconds/hour.)
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To: TheBigB
This fall, Ms. Walmsley took action, and now Brett spends his afternoon recess inline skating, playing kickball or riding his bike. A new school policy? Nope. "I started home-schooling him," she says.

WELCOME ABORD MS. WALMSLEY! SORRY IT TOOK YOU SO LONG!
8 posted on 10/10/2003 8:24:16 AM PDT by ConservativeDude
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To: presidio9
I'm guessing no one plays Smear the Queer with the Football anymore. Glad I grew up in the 60s-70s too!
9 posted on 10/10/2003 8:25:09 AM PDT by meowmeow
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To: presidio9
Brings back memories of "Kill the Carrier".

A game in which about 50 kids chased 1 kid with a football until he was chased down, tackled, and pummelled until he lost his grip on the ball.

The kid that managed to take it away would be given about a 2 second head start before he was given the same treatment.

The masters of the game were either fast or could take quite a beating.

Loads of exercise and also fun in the snow.

10 posted on 10/10/2003 8:25:31 AM PDT by toast
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To: meowmeow
Ahhhh.

You remember.

11 posted on 10/10/2003 8:27:10 AM PDT by toast
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To: presidio9
From Acme, Wash., to Long Island, N.Y.,........

Ahh..Acme, Washington...makers of fine anvils and the best dynomite anywhere in the world.

12 posted on 10/10/2003 8:30:56 AM PDT by retrokitten (Welcome to the real world, hippy!- Homer Simpson)
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To: presidio9
Welcome to "education" 2003: organized recess, unorganized math class.
13 posted on 10/10/2003 8:32:10 AM PDT by IowaHawk
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To: presidio9
Remove your kids from the public brainwash camps and Home school them.
The problem is most parents use the school as a free daycare.
14 posted on 10/10/2003 8:32:46 AM PDT by liberty or death
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To: meowmeow
Oh man, I remember that too. Loads of fun. Bruises, cuts, and scrapes. But fun. I worry we're raising a generation of wimps and whiners.
15 posted on 10/10/2003 8:32:46 AM PDT by TheBigB ("If my country calls, I will answer. Unless I'm screening."--Homer J. Simpson)
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To: presidio9
I just found out my four-year-old son will have to leave his 6-inch plastic "ninja knives" home when he goes to his pre-K halloween party dressed as a Ninja Turtle.

Apparently, they'll scare the teachers.

16 posted on 10/10/2003 8:32:55 AM PDT by dead (I've got my eye out for Mullah Omar.)
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To: toast
We called it "kill the guy with the ball" - which sumed up the rules quite nicely. :)
17 posted on 10/10/2003 8:33:27 AM PDT by Catphish
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To: meowmeow
Smear the Queer and Dodgeball. Without them a generation is lost.
18 posted on 10/10/2003 8:33:51 AM PDT by azcap
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To: presidio9
The days of spending every day after school and all summers riding bikes is over too. On a summer day we used to log 40 miles on our bikes! Every day! We used to ride our bikes to school and home from school. Busses were for pussies. From the ages of six to thirteen, life is to be spent rolling on rubber being pushed by peddals. That is until our safety was legislated without any regard for it's practicality in it's compatability with a normal healthy childhood.

Now nobody rides bikes. Our local district forbids it. Kids less than a quater mile from school have to ride the bus each day. Should a nice situation present itself after school to ride your bike, you face citations and fines to your parents if not wearing enough personal protection gear. Helmets, elbow pads, and knee pads. An inspection sticker from the town indicating you bike registration has been paid, and who knows what else?

And they can't figure out why kids are lazy and fat?

19 posted on 10/10/2003 8:35:20 AM PDT by blackdog ("This is everybody's fault but mine")
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To: meowmeow; toast
Smear the Queer? Kill the Carrier?

LOL! In NJ, we called it “Kill the Guy With The Ball.”

And our playground wasn’t paved, it was gravel. If you had the ball, you ran like you meant it.

20 posted on 10/10/2003 8:36:36 AM PDT by dead (I've got my eye out for Mullah Omar.)
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